Delta State Governor,  Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has described the speedy completion of the Asaba City Mall as clear signal that the state was investor-friendly. The governor who disclosed that he laid the foundation stone of the multi-billion naira imposing structure in July, 2015, expressed joy that Deltans have embraced the culture of encouraging investors.

According to Governor Okowa who spoke on Tuesday while commissioning the Asaba City Mall, host to Shoprite, investors from South Africa, Israel, China and other parts of the world have signed memoranda of understanding with government in areas of interest ranging from agriculture, housing, industrial parks, among others.

“Delta State is a good place to invest as the peaceful environment is here; 16 months after I came to lay the foundation stone of this place, the place has been transformed; Deltans are very excited by what they see here today,” the Governor said, stating, “we must continue to provide the enabling environment in this state for investments to thrive for the creation of jobs for the youths, communities and generation of revenue for the state.”

“Like I promised at the foundation stone laying ceremony, 20 per cent of the state share of this project will be ceded to the community, I am pleased to note that Asaba as host community encouraged the execution of the project without any sign of disruption”, Governor Okowa said.

He noted that with the speed with which the project was completed, more of such projects could be sited in other high population density towns of the state like Sapele, Agbor, and Ughelli.

He said, “I want to congratulate the investors for the completion of this mall in Asaba, I believe that in another two years, more of this malls will be completed in the state; I call on the company to ensure local content in its employment, supply of goods and services and ensure that it executes its corporate social responsibility which is vital for the growth of the company, the community and the state.”

The governor used the occasion to thank communities that provided land for investors, disclosing that one of the largest cassava processing companies would commence operation in the state in the nearest future and called for patience among Deltans to enable them benefit from the huge commercial activities that will take place in the state in the year 2017.

While the Chief Executive Officer of Resilient Africa, Mr Eddy Macdonald commended Governor Okowa’s administration for creating the enabling environment for investments to thrive, the facilitator of the project, Mr Olumide Akintanya in a chat, described Delta as a peculiar state for investment to thrive.

“Delta should be every investors’ destination because, the ease of doing business here can be described as 95 per cent and the people are very business-like,” he said.